#sobbing crying what do you mean theyre childhood friends in a small town

[quailxcrossing]

thinking about some of my babies

these three are invading my thoughts so heavily recently and i am figuring out their childhood secrets, slowly but surely.....

Valkyries can be born from any home, and since there's a limited amount that can exist at any time, they're only born in some period after a previous one passes! Esperanza was born in a small home out in the desert boondocks outside of Turquoise Springs, to a family who had a stain on their name since her father was known for pulling terrible business buying and reselling property. no one liked him bc he was basically a fantasy airbnb flipper and sucked ass

and once Esperanza's Valkyrie tells appeared when she was a few years old (mostly the random wings tbh) her parents thought she would be their big break and finally earn their family some respect, since the reputation of the Valkyries was very well-known!! they hoped their baby would at least bring some good luck! she hadn't gotten her card pulled yet so they didn't know she was The Lovers yet, butttt they could've probably guessed seeing that position had recently been opened.....

Esperanza liked the bigger village a lot, but to her family's disappointment, she HATED people knowing she was a Valkyrie. they always treated her weird.....Valkyries (to keep things brief) are basicallyyyyy just. very densely magical creatures. their connection to the cards and fate is very strong, very closely tied to the world's religion, so people treated Esperanza with almost too much respect that this little baby wanted. she really wanted to make friends with other kids, and she was excited a big village meant she could go to school normally! she took to going outside with her wings covered, lying to people she was just a normal human (with some impish features), which her parents HATED .. but Esperanza remained whimsical

she met Lwaukee the season before she was set to start Tuesday's equivalent of elementary. the little kitty was creeping around and scampering around the washes where Esperanza had taken to enjoy playing (kicking up dirt and running around collecting sticks. baby games) and they played silently a couple times chasing each other back and forth before Lwaukee would randomly get scared and dart off. Esperanza kept returning there hoping Lwaukee would show up.

their relationship changed drastically the time Esperanza ended up bringing a snackie- a little pouch of sun-dried chub that her family had saved up to buy from one of the market stalls (seafood is quite rare out in the desert, these chub were local tho because they lived in Turquoise Springs!!) Esperanza thought she could share them with her new buddy!! maybe they'd be actually buddies!!! her parents always said that material goods were the fastest way to a person's heart! ^D^

Lwaukee stole all of them. immedically. he ate them so fucking fast and Esperanza just went 😲🥲

then Lwaukee scampered off again

so she brought a little bit more the next time, which Lwaukee wolfed down again. Esperanza was really concerned, thinking maybe Lwaukee was homeless, or his parents didn't feed him, so she asked- and Lwaukee finally spoke to her, explaining the food at home "made him sick". Neither of them knew what it meant, but basically Lwaukee is the only cat/human in his house, and he had a combo of a strange diet + ARFID. his parents didn't know how to make him eat, since he could only stomach very certain foods without getting sick. seafood, mostly, meats, and very small portions of fruits and veggies. so basically Lwaukee's parents were going "my kid wont eat his brocolli!! tsk silly kid" while Lwaukee was dry-retching in the background, if he can manage to get it into his mouth

so Esperanza really did win his heart over with food; the two quickly become more comfortable with each other and shared their snacks and continued to play In The Ditch. you know when you just play in the ditch....real desertheads understand

they met their dear friend Georgiana when Lwaukee and Esperanza were trotting town on their way to their favorite dirt patch, and Lwaukee thought it would be a good idea to duck through the nearby marketplace (just wanted to steal some fish) (stole some fish)

Georgiana was a small single child from a fisherman's family, very sheltered just like Esperanza, but with an intense fear of outsiders. their family was all made of hunters, and living off the land was everything Georgiana knew. they lived a few villages over closer to the rivers and they only visited for markets to sell their catches. so when Lwaukee tried to grab a bass cut (Esperanza made the surprised Pikachu face) Georgiana immediately took after him- Georgi's parents told them it wasn't worth it, but Georgiana is really protective of their fishes, very proud to be working the stall...Lwaukee took off cackling but Georgiana caught him very easily. Esperanza explained the situation and apologized 500 times and...hey do you wanna play In The Ditch with us?? you look really strong! you could pick up a lot of sticks when we build forts in the ditch!

Georgiana was terrified of this approach, but they let Lwaukee keep the fish. and guess who quietly showed up next time their family was in town and Esperanza and Lwaukee were rolling in the dirt